Golf ball retriever



March 30, 1965 3,175,714

K. R. WITTEK GOLF BALL RETRIEVER Filed Nov. 26, 1963 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR.

17176 52 Mafia March 30, 1965 w T K 3,175,714

GOLF BALL RETRIEVER Filed Nov. 26, 1965 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTOR.

March 30, 1965 K. R. WITTEK GOLF BALL RETRIEVER 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed NOV. 26, 1963 #(Zem F 2 2 21? ite rates Filed Nov. 26, I963, Ser. No. 326,010 Claims. (Cl. 214-356) This invention relates, in general, to apparatus for picking up objects from the ground, and particularly to a golf ball retriever for picking up, retrieving or recovering golf balls from the ground.

The present application is directed to improvements in golf ball retrievers, in general, of the type disclosed in Edward G. Lockie US. Patent No. 2,656,061, patented October 20, 1953.

The machine of the above mentioned Lockie Patent 2,656,061 is provided with a draft member by which the machine is drawn or pulled over the ground, for example, of a driving range, the practice range of a golf course, or a golf course, to retrieve or pick up the golf balls. With such an arrangement the vehicle which draws or pulls the retriever over the ground moves ahead of the retriever. As a result, if the vehicle passes over golf balls on the ground it may force the golf balls into the ground, or displace the golf balls, and the operator must turn around to see the relation of the retriever with regard to golf balls on the ground, and as a result the operator does not see as well as desired the relation of the retriever with regard to golf balls on the ground.

One of the objects of the present invention is to provide an improved structure for pushing the retriever over the ground which enables the pushing vehicle to follow the retriever so that the operator will have a better view of the retriever with regard to the golf balls on the ground. The improved pushing structure also eliminates movement of the vehicle over the ground ahead of the retriever and the passage of the vehicle over and forcing of the golf balls into the ground, or displacing them ahead of the retriever.

Another object is to provide hopper or basket means for receiving the retrieved golf balls; and also a frame for the hopper or basket means, and means for adjusting the forward end of the frame downwardly and upwardly to position the same properly with respect to the ground and to prevent the front end of the frame or hopper means form digging into the ground. This means also adjusts the height of the ball guides to suit the conditions of the ground and to provide maximum pick-up efiiciency.

Another object is to provide a bottom crossbar with integral ball guides and a top crossbar with integral stripper members for dislodgiug the golf balls from between the pick-up tires. The ball guides and stripper members are preferably in the form of heat treated ductile iron castings which will not wear and become sharp and will not cut up, or injure the golf balls by contact therewith.

Another object is to provide an improved structure for connecting and stabilizing the basket frames where therevention is limited only within the scope of the appended.

claims. and not to the particular embodiments selected for illustration.

atent In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a top plan view of a ten basket golf ball retriever embodying the present invention;

FIGURE 2 is a top plan view of a four basket golf ball retriever embodying the present invention;

FIGURE 3 is a top plan view of a two basket golf ball retriever embodying the present invention;

FIGURE 4 is a fragmentary top plan view of a two basket golf ball retriever showing in more detail the pickup tires, the stripper members and the basket supporting bars of the frame for the basket;

FIGURE 5 is a sectional view taken along the line 55 of FIGURE 4;

FIGURE 6 is a fragmentary bottom view of the golf ball retriever illustrated in FIGURES 4 and 5 showing the arrangement of the ball guides;

FIGURE 7 is a top plan View of a six basket golf ball retriever showing the A frame or structure for pushing the retriever over the ground ahead of the pushing vehicle;

FIGURE 8 is an exploded fragmentary view showing the side bars of the A frame or structure for pushing the retriever over the ground; also the member which is socketed to fit over the generally globular or generally spherical member on the frame of the retriever and through which the retriever is pushed over the ground by the pushing vehicle;

FIGURE 9 is a side view showing the end of the front cross channel of FIGURE 2 and at the center of FIG URE l and the member carrying the generally globular or generally spherical member connected to the cross channel; also the wheel fork rotatable in said member and the relatively large diameter front supporting wheel rotatable in the wheel fork;

FIGURE 10 is a side view showing the end of the front cross channel of FIGURE 3 and at the outer ends of FIG- URE 1 and the member connected to this cross channel; also the wheel fork rotatable in said member and the smaller diameter supporting wheel rotatable in this wheel fork;

FIGURE 11 is an end view of the outer end of the pick-up tires and drum parts; and

FIGURE 12 is a fragmentary sectional view taken along the line 1212 of FIGURE 11.

Referring to drawings, the golf ball retriever shown in FIGURES 4, 5 and 6 is a two hopper or two basket retriever. The frame of this apparatus is indicated in its entirety by the numeral 10 and includes side bars 11 and 12 interconnected by fore-and-aft spaced angular cross bars 14 and 15.

The rear ends of the side bars 11 and 12 have attached thereto at 16 bearings 18 for a transverse axle 20 on which a plurality of wheels 22 are mounted. As shown in FIGURES 11 and 12 each wheel 22 has a pair of drum sections 24 and 26 formed at their outer peripheries at 28 to receive and hold a rubber or rubber-like tire 30 of cylindrical form with its inner periphery held between the outer peripheries 28 of the drum sections 24 and 26. The drum sections 24 and 26 have flat contact inwardly of the outer peripheries 28 and the wheels are separated by spacing sleeves 32 engaging endwise at one end with the drum section 26 of one wheel and at the opposite ends with the drum section 24 of the adjacent wheel.

I The drum sections 24 and 26 are apertured axially for passage of the axle therethrough. The drums 24 and 26 and the spacing sleeves 32 are held in proper interconnected relation by four bolts or rods 34 extending or they may be fixed thereto and the axle 2i) journaled in the bearings 18. The outer wheels have plates 36 and 38 and plates 36 have tubular projections 40 extending outwardly along the axle 28.

A pair of steel wire hoppers, one being shown at 42 in FIGURE 4, are supported end to end between the crossbars 14 and 15 by hopper support bars 43 secured to the crossbar 15 at 44 and to a. lower angular crossbar 45 at 46. The lower crossbar 45 is disposed below the upper crossbar 14 and is attached at opposite ends to depending bars 48 secured to and depending from the side bars 11 and 12. The bottom portions of the bars 43 extend beneath the hoppers or baskets 42 and support the same removably between the crossbars 14 and 15.

As shown in FIGURES 1, 2, 4 and 5, the side bars 11 and 12 haveupstanding lugs 58 over which rings 51 are applied when the retriever Limits are combined, for example, as shown in FIGURES l and 2. ()no end of each hopper or. basket 42 has a handle 52 for use in removing the hopper or basket from the frame.

The angular crossbar 15 has arms 54 attached thereto and forwardly spaced channel cross member or bar 56 has arms 58 attached thereto and positioned at their rear ends between the arms 54. The arms 54 are pivoted to the arms 58 at 60 and the arms 54- have cross portions 62 extending across the tops of the arms 58. Screws 64 threaded through the cross portions 62 and coacting at their lower ends with the upper edges of the arms 58 are adapted to be screwed upwardly or downwardly, for example, by engagement of atool with the heads of the screws. This provides for adjustment of the forward end of the frame 16 downwardly and. upwardly to position the same properly with respect to the ground and to prevent the forward ends of bars 43 of the frame or the hoppers or baskets 42 from digging into the ground.

Stripper members 66 are cast integrally with the crossbar 14 and extend into the spaces between the tires 38 far enough to pass under balls held between adjacent tires 30 to dislodge the balls from between the tires 30 as will hereinafter appear, whereupon the balls roll forwardly by gravity along the upper sides of the stripper members 66 and into the ball receiving hoppers or baskets 42. The crossbar 14 and stripper members 66 are preferably in the form of heat treated ductile iron castings which will not wear and become sharp and will not cut up or injure the golf balls by contact therewith.

Ball guides 68 are cast integrally with the bottom crossbar 45. The ball guides 68 extend rearwardly slightly above the ground as shown in FIGURES and 6 into a position beneath and in alignment with the tires 30 for directing golf balls on the ground into the spaces between the tires 30. The rearward ends of the ball guides 68 are inclined as shown at 70 in FIGURE 5 and have lateral flanges 72 as shown in FIGURE 6. The crossbar 45 and ball guides 68 are also preferably in the form of heat treated ductile iron castings which will not wear and become sharp, for example, by contact with the ground and will not cut, or injure the golf balls by contact therewith, Angularly disposed members 74 are attached at their ends to the crossbar 15 and to the arms 54 properly to brace the forward ends of the arms 54 and the cross portions 62.

The pivoting of the frame about the pivot 60 in addition to the advantage previously described also adjusts the height of the ball guide 68 to suit the conditions of the ground and to provide maximum pick-up efficiency.

As shown in FIGURES 2 and 9 a member 76 is rigidly attached to the channel crossbar 56 intermediate its ends and extends forwardly from the crossbar 56. At its forward end the member 76 has a horizontal portion 78 in which a wheel fork 80 is journaled to turn about a vertical axis indicated at 82. The member 76 slopes upwardly from the crossbar 56 and relatively large diameter front wheel 84 rotates about a horizontal axis 85 between the sides of the wheel fork 80. The wheel 84 has a rubber or rubber-like tire 86 for movement over the ground.

A draft member 88 is pivoted at to lug means 90 on the wheel fork 80 for pulling the golf bar retriever over the ground should that be desired. Attached to or formed on the horizontal portion 78 of the member 76 is an upright generally globular or spherical member 92.

A motor driven vehicle is disposed rearwardly of the golf ball retriever as shown fragmentarily at 914 in FIG- URE 7 and moves in the direction of the arrow 95. The front of the vehicle has a bumper member 96 and an A frame indicated in its entirety by the numeral 97 in FIGURE 7 is connected between the generally globular or spherical member 92 and the bumper member 96 or other parts of the vehicle for pushing the golf. ball retriever over the ground ahead of the pushing vehicle. This eliminates passage of the vehicle overthe ground ahead of the retriever; also forcing of golf balls into the ground by the vehicle and displacing the golf balls when the vehicle moves ahead of and pulls the retriever over the ground.

The A fname comprises side bars 98 and 99 connected at 18-8 and 101, for example, to the bumper member 96 or otherwise to the pushing vehicle 94. The forward end of the bar 98 has a plate 102 attached thereto. The plate 102 has openings 104 and 105 and an arcuate slot 1136 opening therethrough. The curvature of the arcuate slot 186 is about the center of the opening 184.

A cylindrical or tubular member 188 is attached to the bar 99 for positioning of its vertical opening 189 in alignment with the opening 184 through the plate 182. A screw or threaded stem 116 passes-up through the tubular member 188; also through the opening 184, through the plate 102, and through an opening in the base web 112 of a member 114 and engages in a nut 115 for pivotally securing the forward ends of the side bars 98 and 99 together. A screw 116 passes through the opening 185 in the plate 1412 and through an opening in the base web 112 of the member 114 and engages in a nut 117 for se: curing the member 114 to the plate 102.

A screw 118 attached to the bar 99 passes through arcuate slot 106 and through a washer 119 and engages in a nut 124]. The angular relation of the bar 98'and 99 may be varied by loosening the nut 128 and swinging the members 98 and 99 to the desired angular relation about the axis of the screw or threaded stem 110, whereupon the nut 120 may be tightened to secure the members 98 and 99 in the desired angular relation. This enables varying the distance between the connections 100 and 101 to the bumper or vehicle.

The member 114 has a portion extending forwardly of the plate 102v and provided with a socket 122 which fits down over the generally globular or spherical member 82. A rotatable finger piece 124 actuates a member shown diagrammatically at 125 to position beneath the generally globular or spherical member 92 tosecure the socket 122 in place on the member 92. Actuationof the finger piece 124 invthe opposite direction releases the member 125 for removal of the socket 122 from the generally globular or spherical member 92.

The tires 30 are. so spaced that, when they roll over a golf ball lying on the ground, the weight of the machine forces the ball into engagement with adjacent tires 30. The ball is gripped and held between the tires and is retained frictionally between adjacent tires. The golf ball is thus picked up by adjacent tires 30 and. since the tires rotate together the golf ball is raised from the ground and moves with the rotation of the 'tires in the direction of the arrow 128 in FIGURE 5.. When the golf ball, moving with the tires 30, reaches the stripper member 66, which extends between the tires gripping the ball, the stripper member dislodges the ball from between the tires and the ball rolls forwardly by gravity along the top of the stripper member 66 and into the adjacent ball receiving hopper or basket 42.

The tires 30 are preferably gray colored and formed of rubber composition of a character to grip the golf ball and has smooth treads and sidewalls so that they will not pick up grass and dirt and will not dirty the golf balls.

The operation of the machine of the present invention is believed to be clear from the above description. As the golf ball retriever is pushed over the ground, the ball guides 63 guide the golf balls to position to pass into the spaces between the adjacent tires 30. As the retriever passes over the balls, the balls are held between the tires 30 and are carried by the rotation of the wheels up in the direction of the arrow 128 in FIGURE 2 to the stripper members as. The stripper members engage the balls and dislodge them from between the tires 30 and the balls then roll forwardly along the upper sides of the stripper members 66 and into the ball receiving hoppers or baskets 42. Since each sidewall of each tire can be deflected laterally inwardly when a ball is encountered, independently of the opposite sidewall, when a ball is held between two adjacent tires, it does not interfere with another ball being held between the other side of either of the tires and the next adjacent tire portions.

The retriever shown in FIGURE 2 is a four basket golf ball retriever embodying the present invention.

The retriever shown in FIGURE 1 has three intermediate frames ltl each carrying two hoppers or haskets 42 and tires 3% as previously described. The frames are connected to the forward cross channel 56 by three connections 54-58 as described in connection with FIGURES 2 and 5. At each outer end of the three frames 10 is an additional frame 10 each carrying two hoppers or baskets 42 and tires 30 as previously described.

The outer frames 10 are connected by connections 54-58 as described in connection with FIGURES 2 and 5 with cross channels 130 pivoted at 132 to the ends of the cross channel 56. Members 134 rigidly attached to the intermediate portions of the channels 130 in FIGURE I extend forwardly and carry wheel forks as shown generally in FIGURE 10.

In FIGURE 10 the member 134- extends forwardly from the channel 13% and the wheel fork 136 is journaled to turn about a vertical axis indicated at 138 in the member 134. A smaller wheel 140 rotates about a horizontal axis 142 between the sides of the wheel fork 136. The wheel has a rubber or rubber-like tire 144 for movement over the ground. The member 58 corresponds with the member 58 of FIGURES 2 and 5. The draft member 146 is pivoted at 148 to the member 134 for pulling the golf ball retriever over the ground should that be desired.

Where one of the end units of FIGURE 1 is employed the member 53 extends from the member 134 as shown in FIGURE 3 for cooperation with members 54 as described in connection with FIGURE 2.

The embodiments of the invention disclosed in the drawings and specification are for illustrative purposes only, and it is to be expressedly understood that said drawings and the specification are not to be construed as a definition of the limits or scope of the invention, reference being had to the appended claims for that purpose.

I claim:

1. A golf ball retriever comprising a frame having side bars interconnected by front and rear bars, a wire hopper supported in said frame, a first arm disposed forwardly and centrally between the planes of the side bars of said frame for pulling the retriever over tie ground, arm means attached to the front cross bar and extending along the rear end of said first arm, hopper support bars secured to said frame, said arm means attached to the front cross bar being pivoted to said first arm, screw means cooperating with said arm means and with said first arm for adjusting the forward end of the frame downwardly and upwardly to position the same properly with respect to the ground and to prevent the forward ends of the hopper support bars from digging into the ground, a transverse axle journaled in said side bars rearwardly of said hopper, a plurality of wheels on said axle interconnected to rotate together, said Wheels having tires spaced apart a distance such that when the wheels roll over a golf ball on the ground the golf ball will be held between the side walls of the tires and carried upwardly by rotation of the wheels, and ball guides carried by said frame and disposed slightly above the ground and in position beneath and in alignment with said tires for directing golf balls on the ground into the spaces between said tires, the adjustment of the forward end of the frame downwardly and upwardly by said screw means, also acting to adjust the height of the ball guides to suit the conditions of the ground and to provide maximum pick-up etficiency.

2. A golf ball retriever comprising a plurality of laterally aligned frames, each having side bars interconnected by front and rear cross bars, wire hoppers supported in said frames, a cross member forwardly of said frames, first arms attached to said cross member and extending toward the intermediate portions of said frames, arm means attached to the front cross bars of said frames and extending along the rear ends of said first arms, hopper support bars secured to said frames, said arm means attached to the front cross bars of said frames, being pivoted to said first arms, screw means cooperating with said arm means and said first arms for adjusting the forward ends of the frames downwardly and upwardly to position the same properly with respect to the ground and to prevent the forward ends of the hopper support bars from digging into the ground, a transverse axle journaled in said side bars rearwardly of said hoppers, a plurality of wheels on said axle interconnected to rotate together, said wheels having tires spaced apart a distance such that when the wheels roll over a golf ball on the ground the golf ball will be held between the side walls of the tires and carried upwardly by rotation of the wheels, ball guides carried by said frames and disposed slightly above the ground and in position beneath and in alignment with said tires for directing golf balls on the ground into the spaces between said tires, the adjustment of the forward ends of the frames downwardly and upwardly by said screw means also acting to adjust the height of the ball guides to suit the conditions of the ground and to provide maximum pick-up efficiency, and upstanding lugs on adjacent ends of said frames over which rings are applied to hold the frames aligned while permitting vertical movement of said frames to follow uneven contour of the ground.

3. A golf ball retriever comprising a plurality of laterally aligned frames, each having side bars interconnected by front and rear cross bars, wire hoppers supported in said frames, a cross member forwardly of said frames, first arms attached to said cross member and extending toward the intermediate portions of said frames, arm means attached to the front cross bars of said frames and extending along the rear ends of said first arms, hopper support bars secured to said frames, said arm means attached to the front cross bars of said frames, being pivoted to said first arms, screw means cooperating with said arm means and said first arms for adjusting the forward ends of the frames downwardly and upwardly to position the same properly with respect to the ground and to prevent the forward ends of the hopper support bars from digging into the ground, a transverse axle journaled in said side bar's rearwardly of said hoppers, a plurality of wheels on said axle interconnected to rotate together, said wheels having tires spaced apart a distance such that when the wheels roll over a golf ball on the ground the golf ball will be held between the side walls of the tires and carried upwardly by rotation of the wheels, ball guides carried by said frames and disposed slightly above the ground and in position beneath and in alignment with said tires for directing golf balls on the ground into the spaces besr J tween said tires, the adjustment of the forward ends of the frames downwardly and upwardly by said screw means alsoacting to adjust the height of the ball guides to suit the conditions of the ground and to provide maximum pick-up efficiency, upstanding lugs on adjacent ends of said frames over which rings are applied to hold the frames aligned while permitting vertical movement of said frames to follow uneven contour of the ground, a motor driven vehicle disposed rearwardly of the golf ball retriever, a globular member carried by said cross member in position forwardly thereof, and an A frame connected between said globular member and the motor driven vehicle for pushing the golf ball retriever over the ground ahead of said motor driven vehicle.

4. A golf ball retriever comprising a plurality of laterally aligned frames, each having side bars interconnected by front and rear cross bars, wire hoppers supported on said frames, a cross member forwardly of the intermediate frames, members pivoted to the ends of said cross member, first arms attached to said cross member and to said last members and extending toward the intermediate portions of said frames, arm means attached to the front cross bars of said frames and extending along the rear ends of said first arms, hopper support bars secured to said frames, said arm means attached to said front cross bars of said frames being pivoted to said first arms, screw means cooperating with said arm means and said first arms for independently adjusting the forward ends of the frames downwardly and upwardly to position the same properly with respect to the ground and to prevent the forward ends of the hopper support bars from digging into the ground, each frame being comprised of a single unit having a single transverse axle for the wheels of each unit, a plurality of wheels on each axle interconnected to rotate together, said wheels having tires spaced apart a distance such that when the wheels roll over a golf ball on the ground the golf ball will be held between the side walls of the tires and carried upwardly by rotation of the wheels, and ball guides carried by said frames and disposed slightly above the ground and in position beneath and in alignment with said tires for directing golf balls on the ground into the spaces between said tires, the adjustment of the forward ends of the frames downwardly and upwardly by said screw means also acting to adjust the height of the ball guides to suit the conditions of the ground and to provide maximum pick-up efiiciency.

5. A golf ball retriever comprising a frame, hopper means supported by said frame, a first arm disposed forwardly of said frame and having a front end for moving the retriever over the ground, arm means attached to said frame and extending forwardly along the rear end of said first arm, said arm means attached to said frame being pivoted to said first arm, screw means mounted on said arm means and engaging said first arm for adjusting the forward end of the frame downwardly and upwardly to position the same properly with respect to the ground and to prevent the forward end of the hopper means from digging into theground, a transverse axle journaled in said frame rearwardly of said hopper means, and a plurality of wheels on said axle, said wheels having tires spaced aparta distance such that when the wheels roll over a golf ball on the ground the golf ball will be held between the side walls of the tires and carried upwardly by rotation of the wheels.

'6. A golf ball retriever according to claim 5, wherein the laterally aligned frames have on adjacent ends upstanding lugs, and rings applied over said lugs to hold the frames aligned while permitting independent vertical just the height of the ball guides to suit the conditions of g the ground and to provide pick-up efiiciency.

8. A golf ball retriever accordingto claim 5, wherein the individual pivots pivot arms on the draw bar between arms on the respective aligned frames, the arms on said frames having cross portions extending across the tops of the arms on said draw bar, and screwsthreaded through said cross portions and coacting with the arms on said draw bar for adjusting the forward ends of said frames downwardly and upwardly to separately position said frames properly with respect to the ground.

9. A golf ball retriever comprising a draw bar for moving said retriever over the ground, a plurality of laterally aligned frames rearwardly of said draw bar, hoppers supported in said frames, individual pivots between each of said frames and said draw bar permitting independent up and down movement of said frames to provide flexibility to follow uneven contour of the ground, means for swinging the forward ends of said frames separately about said individual pivots to position the forward ends of said frames properly with respect to the ground, each frame being comprised of a single unit having a single transverse axle for the wheels of each unit, a plurality of wheels on each axle interconnected to rotate together, said wheels having tires spaced apart a distance such that when the wheels roll over a golf ball on the ground the golf ball will be held between the side walls of the tires and carried upwardly by rotation of the wheels, upstanding lugs on adjacent ends of the laterally aligned frames, rings applied over said lugs to hold the frames aligned while permitting independent vertical movements of said frames to follow the contour of the ground, and ball guidescarried by said frames and disposed slightly above the ground and in position beneath and in alignment with the tires for directing golf balls on the ground into the spaces between the tires, the swinging of the forward ends of said frames about the individual pivots between the frames and the draw bar acting to adjust the height of the ball guides to suit the conditions of the ground and to provide maximum pick-up efficiency.

10. A golf ball retriever according to claim 5, wherein the first arm is attached to a cross member, and a caster wheel connected to said cross member and movable over the ground.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS HUGO O. SCHULZ, Primary Examiner.

GERALD M. FORLENZA, Examiner. 

1. A GOLF BALL RETRIEVER COMPRISING A FRAME HAVING SIDE BARS INTERCONNECTED BY FRONT AND REAR BARS, A WIRE HOPPER CONNECTED IN SAID FRAME, A FIRST ARM DISPOSED FORWARDLY AND CENTRALLY BETWEEN THE PLANES OF THE SIDE BARS OF SAID FRAME FOR PULLING THE RETRIEVER OVER THE GROUND, ARM MEANS ATTACHED TO THE FRONT CROSS BAR AND EXTENDING ALONG THE REAR END OF SAID FIRST ARM, HOPPER SUPPORT BARS SECURED TO SAID FRAME, SAID ARM MEANS ATTACHED TO THE FRONT CROSS BAR BEING PIVOTED TO SAID FIRST ARM, SCREW MEANS COOPERATING WITH SAID ARM MEANS AND WITH SAID FIRST ARM FOR ADJUSTING THE FORWARD END OF THE FRAME DOWNWARDLY AND UPWARDLY TO POSITION THE SAME PROPERLY WITH RESPECT TO THE GROUND AND TO PREVENT THE FORWARD ENDS OF THE HOPPER SURPPORT BARS FROM DIGGING INTO THE GROUND, A TRANSVERSE AXLE JOURNALLED IN SAID SIDE 